I seriously doubt that someone is going to refrain from buying a new version of a game just because the original can be emulated. The new editions of Chrono Trigger and the Final Fantasy games all have extra features and improvements, so a fan who can afford the console will probably try to buy the games when possible. Purists who prefer the original version or can’t be arsed buying an overpriced handheld aren’t doing the company any harm. It’s not like they’re breaking into shops and stealing copies of the new editions.
Avellone knows how to maintain a loyal fan base, eh? It’s not just smart guys like him as you point out: Morrowind, Dungeon Siege, Warcraft3, Total Annihilation and of course Half Life all thrived on mods.
Oh, boycotting SE is ridiculous, it wont do a thing.
However, no matter how you axe it, it still was kind of a dick move, from any angle. Man, I’d hate having 5 years of work going down the drain like that. However, I’m pretty suspicious on how easily they bended.
Oh well.
People that talk about modding communities don’t understand something very basic:
Modding is a PC, North American / Western phenomenon. SE is a console,mainly JRPG, company. The culture gap between us and the modders and the people who work at companies like SE is as wide as the Pacific. Its silly to start crying about artistic freedom and mod culture and mod tradition in this context. The Japanese don’t make games or think about games the same way as non-Japanese. Talking about modding in BG2 is pointless because its pretty likely that almost no one at SE even knows what BG2 is. Bringing modding to SE is like bringing capitalism to Cuba. The arguments floating around assume that the Japanese / the people at SE think like us, but the simple reality is that they do not because Japanese gaming =/ western gaming. What we see here are a lot of on both sides people bitching that they’re entitled to their way of doing things because they are right and anyone who doesn’t see things their way is therefore wrong.
Besides there is the fact that the game was originally made as a collaborated effort, and even though the two companies that made the game merged not all of the original creators work there anymore. My point is that SE’s motives might a bit more complicated than preserving profit margins.
Also Holy Shit it’s Lunaris!
I recently saw an article saying the US is the biggest internet copyright infringer in the world in terms of raw numbers. Too bad it’s bad PR to add yourself to a copyright watch list. Politicians are never honest. Instead they’d rather add countries with a tenth of their population, live right next door to them and have a very similar culture to the Northern states (minus legal handguns).
Not to necro this thread, but while the rom hack is still under C&D, the creators have posted a Video Walkthrough of the game on youtube to give people an idea of what it would have been like (and prove it really was 98% done and not just a fake project).
So, in case you were wondering about how the game looked in the end, there ya go. I’m only a few videos in so far, but they’re doing a New Game + run, so it’s hard to tell whether or not the combat would have been balanced. The work on the events seems pretty decent, considering how complex editing them must have been.
Nice find, Spoony.